October 1, 2016 Chicago Tribune Unheralded Jake Buchanan makes favorable impression for Cubs By Mark Gonzales Jake Buchanan didn’t know what to expect Friday night after not pitching in a game since Sept. 5. Neither did manager Joe Maddon. But Buchanan calmed any concerns or nerves by throwing five scoreless innings to help the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-3. Buchanan’s teammates were extremely happy with his effort, considering the fact he was released by the Houston Astros’ organization on March 31 and settling for a minor league deal at Triple-A Iowa a few weeks later. This marked Buchanan’s first major league start since July 31, 2014, at Toronto. But Buchanan possessed exceptional control and pitched at a brisk tempo to the delight of everyone. “It’s big,” Zobrist said of Buchanan, 26, who was 12-8 with a 4.34 ERA at Triple-A Iowa. “It says a lot about him and all our guys.” The Cubs have received 8 2/3 innings of four-hit ball from rookie left-hander Rob Zastryzny and Buchanan in their past two games while aligning their rotation for the National League Division Series. “(Buchanan) did a phenomenal job of doing what they asked him to do,” Zobrist said. “And beyond what he’d done in a long time.” Buchanan, making his 24th major-league appearance, walked one while striking out three in a 66-pitch outing. “I trusted Miggy (catcher Miguel Montero) and went with his game plan,” Buchanan said. It’s uncertain where Buchanan fits next spring, but he was happy to make a favorable impression. “From the way (the season) started, getting released and signing to get back to the big leagues, it’s on the way up and I can build on that,” Buchanan said. -- Chicago Tribune Jon Lester's determination to pitch deep puts him in spot to win No. 20 By Mark Gonzales It took Jon Lester one year to re-establish the dominance he displayed in the American League, and one of the rewards of his success could be realized Saturday. Lester has a chance to win 20 games for the first time in his stellar career Saturday, thanks to his ability to pitch deeper into games and convince manager Joe Maddon he was reliable enough to stay in as long as he did for nine seasons with the Red Sox and A's.

"That was one thing that was weird for me and hard to get used to last year, just the National League game," Lester said Friday before Ben Zobrist hit two home runs to lead the Cubs to a 7-3 victory over the Reds. "I'm used to the American League side, where 'here's the ball and you're throwing 100 pitches, no matter what, sometimes more.' The first four to five years, I usually was in the top five in pitches thrown. "So I come over here, and it's the sixth or seventh inning, and I'm getting pulled at 85 pitches because your (batting) spot comes up. It made me realize it's hard to throw 200 innings (in the National League) and hard to get deeper into games." Lester (19-4) needs to throw only 2 1/3 innings to reach the 200-inning mark for the fifth consecutive season and 1 1/3 innings to reach the 2,000 mark for his career. Lester has pitched at least 6 2/3 innings in five consecutive starts, starting with a complete game triumph over the Giants on Sept. 2. "I've always used (200 innings) as a benchmark," said Lester, who threw 205 last season. "Even last year, it wasn't how I wanted it to go. I feel like if I make every start and give my team a chance to win, that's a success. "This year has been better than my career norm, so that's pretty cool, especially with a new team." Lester, who is 10-0 since the All-Star break, can become the first Cubs pitcher since Rick Sutcliffe in 1984 (12-0) to post a 10-0 record or better in a second half. Lester is 9-0 with a 0.96 ERA in his last 11 starts. While Lester prepares for his final regular-season outing, Zobrist appears to be peaking in time for the playoffs. Zobrist is 11-for-22 and is determined not to let up. "Sometimes you feel like you're surviving for parts of the season," Zobrist said. "But the last couple of weeks, knowing we've clinched and knowing some of these games weren't going to matter all that much, I definitely tried to make a concerted effort to maintain an element of competitiveness and have quality at-bats. Not cash anything in. I think everyone in the clubhouse is trying to do that right now." Jake Buchanan, making the most of a spot start, threw five shutout innings in his first appearance since Sept. 5. Buchanan's start allowed the Cubs to line up Lester and Kyle Hendricks for the first two games of the playoffs. -- Chicago Tribune Home schooled: Anthony Rizzo learned to give it his all early By Teddy Greenstein This story begins on July 10, 2014. The 100-win Cubs of 2016 are 100 miles away, or so it seems. This group is 14 below .500, and the Reds are honing in on a five-game series sweep. A Homer Bailey pitch bruised Anthony Rizzo's right arm in the first, but the Cubs' connoisseur of black and blue only takes exception in the ninth after Aroldis Chapman fires pitches of 101 and 100 mph over the head of teammate Nate Schierholtz. Rizzo trots to first, hears some squawking from the Reds and does something extraordinary: He drops his glove, removes his cap and marches directly toward the Reds' dugout. He's ready to fight — 1 against 25.

"I loved that. Loved it," says Rizzo's father, John, a man whose sporting life began in New Jersey, where he played hockey with frozen rats. "It didn't surprise me one frickin' bit. Even when he was a little kid, he stuck up for his teammates." One of those teammates now is Chapman. "These things happen in the heat of battle," Chapman says through interpreter Mike Moreno. "It's nothing where we should hold a grudge. I feel he's an awesome player and teammate. I'm very happy he's on my side." Rizzo, it seems, is incapable of having an enemy — especially in the Cubs' clubhouse. He organizes group dinners on the road and makes it a point to welcome new teammates. "He's one of the easiest people to get along with," Ben Zobrist says. "His personality is so infectious. You gotta like him." Miguel Montero calls Rizzo "the face of the franchise" but that poster child is not above getting razzed. Montero was playing for the Diamondbacks in 2014 and remembers watching the Reds incident on TV. Montero's thought? "He was looking for votes for the All-Star Game," the veteran catcher says. "It ended up getting him a lot of attention. He got the votes. Smart move." Indeed, Rizzo received 8.8 million votes, enough to overtake the Rockies' Justin Morneau and snag the final spot on the National League team. Rizzo's brother, Johnny, also remembered thinking that Rizzo's Rambo moment could propel him to his first Midsummer Classic. Is this why Rizzo did what he did? "No," Johnny replies. "I think he saw 102 right at his teammate's head. Hey, you have to stand up for your teammates. "That's one of my favorite moments." 'Help us win' This story continues in the fall of 2012. The Cubs have selected Albert Almora Jr. with the sixth pick in the draft. Rizzo, a fellow south Floridian, wants to meet the first selection of the Theo Epstein era. "I'm an 18-year-old kid and Anthony Rizzo shows up at my house," Almora says. "I remember almost everything about it. I showed him my backyard and he tried my climbing rope. We didn't even talk much about baseball, more about life. Since then, we get along great." Rizzo is 23 years old. He's already a leader in the mold of Jonathan Toews, named the Blackhawks' captain at 20. Both are economical in their words. And both can be counted on to do the right thing. "I wanted him to feel comfortable," Rizzo says of the Almora visit. "Everyone says when you come up from the minors: Don't change a thing when you get to the big leagues. The reality is you need to change some things, like: Respect the older guys. The quicker guys can adjust but be themselves, not look over their shoulder, the quicker they will help our team win." Who mentored Rizzo after he joined the Cubs in 2012?

"(Ryan) Dempster," Rizzo says. "Right when I got called up he said, 'Hey man, you're here to help us win.' That was big for me." The Cubs have established veteran leaders in left-hander Jon Lester and catcher David "Grandpa" Ross, so Rizzo is free to be himself. That's plenty good enough for manager Joe Maddon. "He's always upbeat, positive," Maddon says. "He plays every day, plays with enthusiasm, is definitely not afraid and is very supportive of the rest of the group. And what he does on defense, he's there to pick everyone up. He has a great outlook on the day." In 2015, he led the National League in games played (160), plate appearances (701) and was plunked by a league-high 30 pitches. He's a gamer, and that spirit comes from his father and big brother. John is 62 and does programming and service for Tyco Security and still speaks in a distinct Jersey accent. Anthony has suggested he retire but John says: "It's a mental thing. I want to keep going, even though he makes more in one paycheck than I do in five years." Johnny earned his keep at Florida Atlantic University, where he began as a walk-on and started nearly every game of his career, earning second-team all-Sun Belt honors at right guard. His university-produced bio includes this entry for 2006: "(Has) reputation for playing hard-nosed football despite being banged up … was exemplified during preseason when he didn't miss a day despite extensive rib contusions among other conditions." "If I was healthy enough to play, I was gonna play," Johnny says. "That's just how I felt. Anthony only takes a day off if Joe makes him." 'He was a freak' This story continues in the mid-'60s. The Jersey-bred John Sr. pitches quarters and plays stickball, handball and rat hockey. He's not allowed to play ball in the house and promises himself that when he has kids, he'll practically require them to play ball inside. Wife Laurie was working as a bartender and after she would leave in the late afternoon, John says he and his boys would play "everything — handball off the wall, football, baseball. I started playing golf around the time we moved (from New Jersey to Florida). Anthony was 2 or 3. I was chipping golf balls one day and he comes out with a glove. He's a little kid, staggering and drooling, and says: 'Dad, hit me balls.' "I thought: I'm gonna kill him. But he caught like 10 in a row. He even caught the ones I bladed." John's goal was to spend as much time with his kids as possible. So he coached them in every sport. A college wrestler, he knew so little about soccer that he had his troops play catch during his first practice. "There was a Brazilian guy there and he said, 'What do you have, 12 goalies?'" Anthony excelled in every sport he tried, especially hockey and baseball. "Once he got into T-ball, Little League, he was a freak," John says. "By end of the season, the kids were asking him to sign their ball. The parents were saying, 'He's gonna be in the pros.'" John wasn't sure, but he knew this: His kids would stay straight, not give into whatever temptations were rampant in Parkland, Fla., west of Boca Raton. He would eyeball every one of Johnny and Anthony's friends and expel out the troublemakers.

"I knew who could be selling weed, who could be a crack freak, who would try to talk them into going with some hookers somewhere," John says. "One time we had kids over and I see one of them with a pipe wrench. Someone tells me he's huffing (inhaling chemical vapors to get a high) and says, 'He's gonna take Freon from your air conditioning (unit).' I grabbed the kid by the neck, called his old man and said: 'I never want to see your kid with mine again.' "We made sure the drugs and steroids stayed out." This story continues on Aug. 17. Rizzo hustles to the seats off first base at Wrigley Field. He steps on the ledge of the brick wall, reaches in with a backhand and snares a popup against the Brewers, somehow managing to keep his balance and not fall into the lap of a guy wearing a Batman T-shirt. John, watching from home in Florida, immediately texted his oldest son with a recollection from their ball-playing days in the house: Was that the over-the-shoulder, over-the-couch catch, or over-the-shoulder, over-the-stairs catch? Says Johnny: "I was cracking up." At the time, Anthony joked: "It's one of those plays where if you make it, you look great. If you don't make it, you're a fool. It's nice I made it." Says Almora: "He goes balls to the wall. It's what you want in a teammate, someone who will go all out for this organization to win a ballgame." Asked recently whether catches like that reflect his leadership, Anthony replies: "That's bonus stuff, in my opinion. It's more about running out the ground balls, running out the popups, taking the extra base first to third, doing the little things you can control. In this game you can hit the ball hard and do everything right and still fail. It's about what Joe says: 'Respect 90 (feet) all the time.' I feel like that pays off in the end." The biggest payoff would come at the end of October, or Nov. 1 or 2, if the World Series goes six or seven games. Anthony refers to a Cubs title as a "when," not an "if," telling Sports Illustrated: "When it happens, it's going to be epic." He's not the only one with faith. Johnny, an investment banker and financial adviser who handles Anthony's money, says of his plans to watch the playoffs: "We'll be up (in Chicago) a lot. Definitely weekend games — and all the World Series games." Whoa, that's confidence. "Oh, yeah," Johnny says. "They have to win. They're gonna win. The young guys play fearless; they know they're good." This story concludes with how no Cubs story has ended since 1908. There's the father who would not let his son stray, the older brother who set the right example, the mother who runs the family foundation meticulously and the youngest son, the face of the franchise, delivering a title. He's right: It will be epic --

Chicago Tribune Kris Bryant lives up to the hype — despite all the challenges By K.C. Johnson Kris Bryant pushed his champagne-soaked protective eyewear atop his forehead and took a break from sticking fistfuls of ice cubes down teammates' backs to ponder the scene — and question — in front of him.What would it mean for the newest Cubs superstar to follow his Rookie of the Year campaign with the National League most valuable player award? It seemed hilariously incongruous that Bryant, who has said he never has tried alcohol, offered an answer in a T-shirt that, if wrung out, would fail a sobriety test. "We play for this right here," Bryant said, gesturing to the division-clinching gyrating in a delirious Cubs clubhouse last month . "We don't play for any individual goal or stat. This is what you're going to remember 20 years from now. Obviously, (winning MVP) would be really cool. But every memory I have in baseball is celebrations like this." This isn't easy what Bryant, 24, is doing. Never mind the skill to judge speed and space to put bat squarely on pitched ball, a process that has produced 39 home runs, 102 RBIs and a .293 batting average. Those numbers make him, along with teammate Anthony Rizzo, an MVP favorite and helped lead the Cubs to the best record in baseball and their mid-September dance party. It's the first celebration in the goal to snap a century-old World Series drought. Forget the versatility that has allowed manager Joe Maddon to move Bryant around defensively like a puppet, shifting him from his natural position of third base to where his athleticism is needed. Bryant has started games at two infield and two outfield positions, finished games at a different position than he started more than 25 percent of the time and played four positions in a game. No. What's most impressive is Bryant living up to his considerable hype after the Cubs drafted him second overall out of the University of San Diego in 2013. That's no easy feat at any time but perhaps a more difficult one in this age of social media synopsis and rapid-fire analysis. Meeting potential — or failing to — is as old a baseball subject as the ivy on the Wrigley Field walls. It's a process that has chewed up and spit out many. See Vitters, Josh for a Cubs example. And this is where Bryant's character, composure, work ethic and commitment to team get raised consistently and constantly by those who know him best, qualities so universally hailed as cornerstones to his success. "You hear about a kid who always kept his grades up, who always worked hard. So you expect that you might have someone who has real character," Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said. "But then you see the way he works, the way he cares about the game, the way he cares about his teammates and you know you have something special." Bryant's father, Mike, played minor-league baseball for the Red Sox and raised his two sons with his wife, Sue, with the game always nearby. Mike's influence on his youngest son has been well documented, and it's present again when Bryant is asked where he gets his composure. "It's just who I am as a person," Bryant said. "I try to be laid back and not get too high or too low. It's just something I've always had. It can be a good thing or a bad thing. But it's just me. "I don't really care what people think of me — good or bad. Holding onto that stuff gets to your head. So I don't worry about it."

If this approach sounds like another soft-spoken, serious-minded Cubs icon, well, so be it. Maybe it isn't coincidence after all that Bryant had to ditch the No. 23 he wore at Las Vegas' Bonanza High School because it's retired in Chicago. When Ryne Sandberg first met Bryant, this composure stood out. "I liked his demeanor right away," Sandberg said. "I liked the way he handles himself. I liked the way he prepares. He has a good way about him. He's very professional, respects the game." Sandberg won National League MVP honors following his third season with the Cubs, also at age 24. He authored his signature breakout game in June 1984 of that season, twice hitting game-tying home runs off Cardinals closer Bruce Sutter to send announcer Harry Caray into hyperdrive in Caray's already over-the-top style. Thirty-two years and four days later, Bryant became the first player in major league history to hit three home runs and two doubles in the same game, going 5-for-5 with six RBIs in a road victory over the Reds. That Bryant followed that with another 5-for-5 outing in an August victory over the Brewers seemed like piling on. That August game made Bryant just the second player in MLB history with two five-hit, five-RBI games in the same season. He joined former Cub Phil Cavarretta, who accomplished it in 1945 during his NL MVP season. "I don't know what Kris Bryant's ceiling is. But it's pretty good right now," Sandberg said. "He's just a tremendous athlete with all the tools to play baseball. And he's obviously very versatile to play different positions, which even puts him in another category." Indeed, Bryant is vying to become the first MVP since Stan Musial in 1946 to start at least 30 games in both the infield and outfield, according to STATS LLC. This is serious stuff. And when accomplishments place you in sentences alongside Hall of Famers like Sandberg and Musial, the burden of being a franchise centerpiece follows closely behind. This is where Bryant's even-keeled approach could serve him best. "Expectations don't always agree with all players," Sandberg said. "But I think he was in the right spot at right time with this team and the talent and all the young players around him. He's not a fish out of water. I think that has helped the Cubs, bringing a lot of guys up at the same time and letting them be a big part of the team. "Being a (franchise icon) isn't a burden when you have good players around you and you win. This team has a very large window to win. And to be a main player in that, I think that's what any player would want." David Ross has seen just about everything in his 15 years in the big leagues. He agreed with Sandberg's assessment that having other talented young players surrounding Bryant can be beneficial, citing how Rizzo constantly reminds Bryant, albeit humorously, of the expectations facing him. Nevertheless, it's a burden Bryant handles in a fashion that makes Ross gush. "You see it more often than not: guys come in with all this hype and fail," Ross said. "I'm not sure what's asked of him in terms of playing every day with these expectations, playing different positions a lot, gets enough attention. "If he and Rizz don't do well, we're probably not going to be a very good team. So that's a lot of pressure on a young guy without a whole lot of time in the league. And he has embraced it as well as anybody can embrace it. This guy lives, eats, breathes baseball and this team and how he can get better. He's constantly working." Nobody yet knows how this magical Cubs season will end. Same goes for Bryant's career, although the early returns and the amount of work to produce them seems promising to most everybody. Back in the division-clinching clubhouse, Bryant grabbed another fistful of ice cubes and smiled.

"I stink at celebrating," Bryant said. There you go. The phenom has something on which to work. -- Chicago Tribune Joe Maddon: Giants should be 'seething' over Cardinals' controversial win By Mark Gonzales With a National League playoff berth secured two weeks ago, Cubs manager Joe Maddon doesn’t have to worry about the smallest decisions. But Maddon sympathized with Cincinnati manager Bryan Price after the Reds were victims of a blown call Thursday that enabled the St. Louis Cardinals to remain alive in the NL wild-card race. “Pretty bizarre,” Maddon said Friday of Yadier Molina’s double that scored Matt Carpenter with the winning run after Price didn’t tell the umpires of his intent to review the double (which actually hit the advertising panel behind the left field wall and caromed onto the field for an apparent ground rule double that wasn’t called) within 10 seconds. “I’ll defend Bryan 100 percent because I’ve in that (Busch Stadium) dugout and you can’t see that corner,” Maddon said. “You have to have some kind of lag time there in order to get all the information back to you. It’s impossible.” Maddon said he’ll jump onto the field on occasion to follow balls hit in the corner at Busch. “I can’t see why they weren’t permitted to get it done properly,” Maddon said. The lack of replay allowed the Cardinals to remain one game behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL wild-card race. “If I’m San Francisco, I think I’m a little bit seething at this particular moment, based on the rules are in place for a reason,” Maddon said. “If the elements are in place to do it right, let’s get it right.” Maddon said some stadiums are so loud that the noise drowns out the dugout telephone that a team’s video coordinator calls to inform the manager if he should request a challenge. “I have no sympathy for the time element there at all,” Maddon said. -- Chicago Tribune Paul Sullivan's MLB players awards By Paul Sullivan Most valuable player National League 1. Kris Bryant, Cubs 2. Daniel Murphy, Nationals 3. Nolan Arenado, Rockies

Sullivan says: Bryant will lead the NL in WAR and has been the best player on the best team. Murphy led the NL in OPS and was second in average while leading the Nationals to the East title. Arenado could lead in home runs and RBIs, but has the misfortune of playing on a mediocre team. American League 1. Mookie Betts, Red Sox 2. Jose Altuve, Astros 3. Mike Trout, Angels Sullivan says: Betts may be the best all-around player in the game with great speed and defense to go along with his offensive skills. Altuve has MVP-type numbers, but the Astros were underachievers. Trout is the game's best hitter and finished with the top WAR, but the Angels were irrelevant. Cy Young Award National League 1. Kyle Hendricks, Cubs 2. Jon Lester, Cubs 3. Max Scherzer, Nationals Sullivan says: An ERA below 2.00 going into his final start on Sunday shows how dominant Hendricks was all season long. Lester had a better second half and more victories, and easily could switch places with Hendricks. Scherzer is a strikeout machine and innings-eater, but WAR is overrated for starting pitchers. American League 1. Zach Britton, Orioles 2. Rick Porcello, Red Sox 3. Chris Sale, White Sox Sullivan says: With 47 saves and a 0.55 ERA going into the final weekend, Britton was the most untouchable reliever in the game. Porcello will lead the majors in victories, while Sale's brilliance once again was wasted on the South Side. Rookie of the year National League 1. Corey Seager, Dodgers 2. Trevor Story, Rockies 3. Junior Guerra, Brewers Sullivan says: Seager lived up to his pre-spring hype and became a viable MVP candidate as well. Story had a historic power binge at the outset of his career, but an injury killed his chances. Guerra was a White Sox reject who quietly led the Brewers staff.

American League 1. Gary Sanchez, Yankees 2. Michael Fulmer, Tigers 3. Nomar Mazara, Rangers Sullivan says: Fulmer probably will win for leading the league in ERA, and deservedly so. But Sanchez's 20 home runs in 51 games entering the final weekend are too mind-blowing to ignore, even if he only played two months. -- Chicago Tribune Rest is paying off for Cubs' Ben Zobrist By Mark Gonzales Manager Joe Maddon altered the lyrics to Aretha Franklin’s 1967 hit “Respect” Friday night when discussing a possible reason for Ben Zobrist’s recent surge. “R-E-S-T-E-D,” Maddon said. “That’s what it means to me.” Zobrist’s 3-for-4, two-home run performance quelled some of the questions regarding Maddon’s efforts to give his starters some rest while giving his reserves more playing time. Since the Cubs clinched a National League playoff berth 15 days ago, Zobrist has received four games off, and he has taken full advantage of the blend of rest and staying sharp. Zobrist is 11-for-22 in his past seven games after Friday night’s performance in the Cubs’ 7-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. “I think all of our guys, if not physically, mentally at least, you just feel like we’ve been able to take a breather,” Zobrist said. “That helps, especially this time of year. Not having to press and push. I think that can be a dangerous thing, too. “We’re trying to make a concerted effort to stay in that competitive frame of mind and go out there and play good baseball and get ready for next Friday (when the NL Division Series starts).” Maddon is mindful of giving Zobrist, 35, ample rest. “With the everyday guys, you got to get them off their feet,” Maddon said. “It’s hard to replicate and be that consistent every day. “The way we got to this point is wonderful so we can provide and allow these guys to refuel their tanks.” In the case of Zobrist, who went to the World Series with Maddon’s Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 and won the Series in 2015 with Kansas City, “he’s been there before and thrives at this time of year,” Maddon said. “He had a tremendous post-season. It means a lot.” -- Chicago Tribune Cubs' Jed Hoyer, Jason McLeod receive extensions through 2021 By Mark Gonzales The Chicago Cubs kept their front office in harmony Friday by announcing that general manager Jed Hoyer and senior vice president of scouting/player development Jason McLeod have been signed to five-year contracts through 2021.

The announcement comes two days after Theo Epstein, the Cubs' President of Baseball Operations, agreed to a five-year contract. “Jed and Jason are simply the best at what they do and have played fundamentally important leadership roles in helping the Cubs build a healthy and thriving organization,” Epstein said in a statement. “We feel honored to have the stability and support that we enjoy throughout Baseball Operations and look forward to many years of working together in Chicago.” Hoyer and McLeod joined the Cubs shortly after Epstein's arrival after the 2011 season and have instrumental roles at the major and minor league levels. The Cubs have experienced a 40-win improvement from 2012 to their current 101-57 record. The Cubs are only the third team in major league history to win at least 100 games within four years of a 100-loss season. Under the politburo of Epstein, Hoyer and McLeod, the Cubs have advanced to postseason play in consecutive seasons for only the third time in franchise history. The 2016 Cubs, which has the best record in all of baseball, was built with free agent signings such as Jon Lester, Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and John Lackey; amateur draft picks Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora Jr.; and trades that landed Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Addison Russell, Dexter Fowler and Kyle Hendricks; as well as Rule 5 Draft pick Hector Rondon. Prior to joining the Cubs, Hoyer had spent the previous 10 seasons working in major league baseball for the Boston Red Sox (2002-09 with Epstein) and San Diego Padres (2010-11 with McLeod). He was named San Diego’s eighth general manager in franchise history on October 26, 2009 after eight seasons with the Red Sox, where he departed as the club’s senior vice president/assistant general manager. Hoyer’s stint in Boston also included a 44-day stretch as co-General Manager during the 2005-06 offseason. Hoyer started his career with the Boston Red Sox and was involved in player development, major league scouting, quantitative analysis and advance scouting that helped produce World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 and won 95 or more games six times. McLeod served six seasons in the Red Sox's scouting department before returning to San Diego after Hoyer was named general manager. -- Chicago Tribune Friday's recap: Cubs 7, Reds 3 By Mark Gonzales Ben Zobrist hit two home runs and spot starter Jake Buchanan threw five innings of two-hit ball Friday night as the Cubs rolled to a 7-3 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park. At the plate Josh Smith retired the first 12 Cubs' batters in order before Zobrist homered into the right field seats. Pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella, trying to secure a spot on the playoff roster, hit a bloop single in the sixth, and Anthony Rizzo had a two-run single during a four-run eighth. On the mound Reliever Trevor Cahill allowed a double to Jose Peraza and threw a wild pitch that led to a run in the sixth. Carl Edwards Jr. surrendered a two-run homer to Joey Votto in the ninth.

In the field Left fielder Chris Coghlan showed no signs of discomfort in his first game since suffering a left ankle sprain Wednesday. Shortstop Addison Russell leaped to catch a Steve Selsky line drive in the sixth. Key number 39 — Home runs the Cubs have hit against the Reds in 2016. Up next Vs. Reds at Great American Ball Park, 3:10 p.m. Saturday; CSN. -- Chicago Tribune Cubs winning World Series? Why, it's a foregone conclusion By Bernie Lincicome Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or why be a Cub fan? It is easier and saner to count your chickens before they hatch. It is much harder later when they are out of their neat little cartons, hatched and running around with their heads cut off. There will be no warnings here of the Cubs getting ahead of themselves, of spending before the check clears, of crossing a bridge before they get to the river, of waiting until the fat lady reaches for that final high note, of anything — to quote Yogi — being over until its over. No caution of premature exultation here. You can count your money while you're sittin' at the table. Really, Kenny, you can. The number to count for Cubs fans is 11, just shy of a dozen, the needed victories to purge more than a century of clumsy incompetence, to erase the enduring signature of a franchise, to join the society of achievers, to break the window instead just pressing a nose against it. The world knows all of that, the world that cares about these things, and the world seems to care a great deal about the Cubs these days. The Cubs always have been dependable that way. Theirs is the most reliable story line this side of boy meets girl. It is too disturbing to think otherwise, even for those of us who have no bait on the hook. I count my time over the years considering the Cubs as essentially painless, win or lose, grateful mostly for afternoon deadlines when deadlines still mattered. On the rare occasions like these, when the prize was merely fitting in, expectations were not fogged by belief. There did not need to be a next step, or one after that. Each step was its own delight. The Cubs have been a team without presumption, rather like canned pasta or Tom Cruise. And now here we are expecting — no, demanding — that the Cubs win the World Series. This, I submit, is not only careless but alarming, an emphasis on the destination instead of the journey. This is the way of conceit and arrogance, paths that are pocked with intolerance and impatience. This is a place where shades are drawn and ears are plugged. This is where the Yankees live, and the Cardinals, and lately the Red Sox, who once were what the Cubs still are. The joy of winning small submits to the obligation of winning big.

This changes things greatly. The sweet pain of failure is not allowed where, if any Cub fan is honest, it always has been welcome, when the expectation of some sort of calamity was as certain as the next pitch. A special shelf of history holds the Cubs along with Apollo 13, New Coke and yogurt shampoo. The Cubs do not exceed expectations, they lower them. Until now. This collection of Cubs honestly has been accused of being one of the great baseball teams of all time, maybe the greatest, this said and written without gasping or winking or expecting any disagreement. This Cubs team's ingredients are perfectly matched with excellent pitching, assorted stars at every position, potent hitting, slick fielding, a mad genius of a manager, an inspired front office, visionary ownership and a carefree clubhouse. No one argues otherwise. And where does all that get us? Without mystery, without pity, without compassion, without forgiveness for failing. It demands the Cubs hurry on to the next thing and to the one after that and to the big party at the end before the ice melts and the band leaves. No more baby steps, no more crossed fingers. Inconceivably, the Cubs have made it both cool and tiresome to strut before walking. What happens next for the Cubs is still too rare to dismiss as natural even when the last bit of suspense was whether Kyle Schwarber was going to get up off the warning track in the third game of the year. The Cubs started as heavy choices to win the World Series and have raced away to become prohibitive favorites, the astonishing feature of this sentence being not the adjectives but the nouns. Bernie Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune. -- Chicago Tribune For the Ricketts family, patience pays off By Patrick M. O’Connell and Kathy Bergen After holding a baby, posing for selfies with wide-eyed grown men, helping fans fumbling with their phone cameras, signing baseballs for boys in team jerseys and autographing a scorecard, a flag and a cap, Tom Ricketts ducked into the shadow of Wrigley Field's grandstand to take a breath in the relative calm of the ramp to the cheap seats. Another circuit of the upper-deck concourse was complete. He shook hands with a few more passing fans, then unfolded a small piece of paper. On it was an outline of his game-day duties, including a list of corporate sponsors to greet and their seat locations. The printed highlights help guide Ricketts through the frenzy of handshakes and greetings that have become a signature part of his workday at the ballpark. The chairman of the Cubs, it is evident, loves meeting people — fans in Section 532 and business honchos in the box seats alike. But like many of his routines, the folded-up cheat sheet he carries with him shows the methodical ways in which he and his family run the team, planning and executing their strategies at every level, polishing their public image along the way. Since purchasing the Cubs in 2009, the Ricketts family has overseen the club's rejuvenation on the field while embarking on an ambitious renovation of the 102-year-old ballpark and its surroundings.

Front and center is Tom Ricketts, the frontman of the family and chief architect of the overhaul, the Nebraska native who came east to study at the University of Chicago, fell in love with the Cubs and is now bent on delivering the once unthinkable to their fans — a World Series title for the first time since 1908, the longest drought in professional American sports. "For me, it's about fans," said the cherub-faced Ricketts, who began his ballpark walk-around tradition on Opening Day 2010, his first regular-season game as an owner. "I thought, 'I don't want to be an NFL owner, you know, up behind the glass.'" The decision to mingle with the fans "is about the fact that we did something that I don't think any other large-market team has ever done, and that is come in and be direct and honest about how it's going to take some time to build an organization." "The thought of delivering a championship?" Ricketts said recently from one of the family's no-frills suites overlooking the sun-splashed field. "It's the greatest quest in sports." Bringing the team to the postseason for the second straight year has placed the Ricketts family squarely in the city's spotlight. After winning a complicated bidding process to buy the club from Tribune Co., the Rickettses laid out a long-term plan for the team on the field and for the ballpark itself, tearing down the roster and remaking the creaky old stadium with an eye on the future. The plan meant several years of dismal play on the diamond and countless political and neighborhood battles off of it. The family, for the most part, has emerged triumphant by sticking to its blueprint, hiring keen baseball executives, learning the idiosyncrasies of Chicago politics and applying the business principles and work ethic of the family's patriarch, J. Joe Ricketts. The elder Ricketts became a billionaire by founding and building what is now TD Ameritrade, an online brokerage company. "The Ricketts became not just private businesspeople but proficient and diplomatic actors on the public stage," said William Brandt Jr., a corporate turnaround specialist who has interacted with the Rickettses on financing issues. Their long-stalled project is rising now, he said, "and I will tell you, they earned it and they earned it the hard way." It was an indoctrination into bruising Chicago politics, and the past seven years have been fraught with controversy. The team's plans to expand and update Wrigley — considered essential if the club is to compete on the field — angered many tradition-loving fans, rooftop owners and Lakeview neighborhood preservation advocates. "I think the Ricketts are out of control in their greed," said Mark Weinberg, a lawyer who represents a man who writes an unofficial Cubs program and sells it on the sidewalks near the ballpark. "They're trying to remake Wrigley Field so that no one can make a penny off the Cubs except them." Ricketts, rarely one to anger, bristles at such suggestions. "What we've done is invest in the neighborhood," he said. "What we've done is bring more people to the neighborhood. And so, small business should have more opportunity. I just wouldn't understand that perspective." But winning has a way of muting complaints. As the Cubs have turned from bottom-dwelling laughingstocks to World Series favorites, some of the franchise's most persistent critics, in part soothed by the team's largesse, have faded to the background, reluctant to disrupt the now-cordial relations. Even Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, who has publicly sparred with the team during countless rounds of negotiations about ballpark remodeling and other neighborhood issues, offered a glowing take on the team's first family, which is spending $750 million on the ballpark and neighborhood development.

"They have their private interests and they are a very successful family," Tunney said. "I have the ultimate respect for their investment and the way they run the team. I always have." Nebraska to the North Side How the Ricketts family ever ended up owning the Cubs is itself an improbable journey. The story begins in Nebraska, where Joe and Marlene Ricketts raised four children — Pete, Tom, Laura and Todd — in Omaha, struggling with the juggling act of raising a family while building their own business. In the early days of the company, the family's money went either to support the kids or to the business — no vacations, no trips to the movies, no eating dinner at restaurants, Joe Ricketts said in a TD Ameritrade video prepared for his retirement. Marlene bought plain-label green beans to save money. "People have said, 'Joe, you're boring.' I've said, 'Yeah, I am. But I'm fun for me,'" Joe Ricketts said. The typical drill when the children were growing up, Joe said, was to come home for dinner with Marlene and the kids, then return to the office, children in tow, to keep working into the night. "If it took taking kids to the office, he'd do it," Pete Ricketts said in the video. "If it took working a Saturday, he'd do it." But the patriarch was still a presence in his children's lives. "One of the things Dad did, despite how busy he was, was he always made time to coach us in Little League baseball," Pete Ricketts said. "And Dad knows nothing about baseball." Joe Ricketts tried to keep a family-owned vibe at the company, with Marlene, who assisted with trading operations, taking time to bake birthday cakes for employees. The company continued to grow, with Joe Ricketts capitalizing on the public's growing appetite for a discount brokerage that would give customers the ability to manage their own stock trades. "I know I'm different," Joe Ricketts said in the video. "I think differently, my mind works differently. Generally, when the crowd of people say, 'Don't do it,' I usually know that's when to do it." The bedrocks of the family: strong work ethic, creating your own success, taking educated risks, learning from mistakes. "I learned most of what I know about business from my dad, and most of what I know about people from my mom," said Tom Ricketts, who is 51. "They were a great combination, and a great influence on all of us." Pete, 52, is now the Republican governor of Nebraska. Todd, 47, the owner of North Shore bike shops, is a history buff active in conservative causes, serving as chief executive of Ending Spending, an anti-government spending group, and as a trustee of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Laura, 49, an attorney, heads Cubs Charities and rejects the family's GOP leanings, serving on the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee. The siblings, except for Pete, live in Wilmette. And all, whatever their political differences, serve on the Cubs' board of directors. The family directed all inquiries from the Tribune to Tom. "The kids are accomplished in their own right," Brandt said. "There is a tendency by a lot of people to say, hey, a la Trump, 'You just made the best of your father's money.' Well, maybe, but making the best of your father's money doesn't make you the governor of Nebraska." The family is now among the richest in the country; Joe Ricketts alone is worth $1.5 billion, according to a Forbes estimate. The family has used its fortune to wield political influence, donating millions to candidates over the

years. With the notable exception of Laura, a Hillary Clinton supporter and the chairwoman of a lesbian-backed super political action committee, most of the family leans to the right politically. Joe Ricketts is a prominent donor to conservative causes and candidates. Todd Ricketts, meanwhile, has been a steady contributor to Republicans, serving as the fundraising co-chairman for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's presidential campaign before Walker dropped out. Occasionally, their political affiliations have spilled into the public arena. In the spring, for example, the Ricketts family drew the ire of Donald Trump for its support of his opponents during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. But with the presidential campaign entering the home stretch, Joe Ricketts toed the GOP line, recently donating $1 million to the Trump campaign. Todd Ricketts was listed as one of Trump's hosts for a recent suburban fundraiser. Shortly after her father's donation, Laura Ricketts donned a Hillary Clinton ball cap at Wrigley Field and this summer she hosted a Clinton fundraiser at her home. "I know people find this really interesting, but I think that everybody's family has some variety or diversity of opinion," Tom Ricketts said. "We're no different. I mean, the fact is my parents raised four very strong-willed children, and they all have their own opinions. And we still are very, very, very close." Tom Ricketts mostly shies from the political arena. He does not make political endorsements, a family spokesman said, and does not have a position on Trump. He did donate $50,000 in 2014 to the Yes for Independent Maps fund, which backed an ultimately unsuccessful campaign to overhaul how state legislative districts are drawn. His wife, Cecelia, a dermatologist, gave the Illinois Republican Party $10,000 in October 2014. Asked whether he thinks his family's views alienate fans, Tom Ricketts said he believes fans can separate baseball from politics. Building relationships On a balmy afternoon in September, close to 200 Indiana University Kelley School of Business students and professors filed into a lecture hall to listen to Tom Ricketts share his tale of rebuilding the Cubs franchise. Within three minutes, he had reeled them in. "Every single day … someone will come up to me, and before telling me their name, they tell me their age," he said, sauntering across the stage. "It pretty much goes like: 'Mr. Ricketts, I'm 71 years old. Please win the World Series.' "I try to say, 'You know, you're 71, I get that. You eat right. You exercise. How much time do I have?'" The academic audience members, many decked out in blazers, open-collar shirts and beige slacks, much like the casually preppy speaker, erupted in laughter. For the next 75 minutes, they paid rapt attention, with many staying afterward to speak with him at a networking session. His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: Treat people right, be persistent and jump at any chance that comes along. Chatting with two students, he shared his experience in launching Incapital, a bond underwriting business, after first cutting his teeth at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and then at investment banking company Chicago Corp. "I think I made 75 presentations and eventually someone said, 'We'll give it a shot,'" he said, his left hand hooked in his slacks pocket. "The person that called me back was a girl I knew from business school. Talk about relationships."

Since its start, Incapital has underwritten more than $400 billion of corporate and U.S. agency bonds for clients such as Bank of America, GE Capital and Caterpillar Financial. Running that business, in turn, gave him the self-assurance to aggressively pursue the Cubs, he said. "There was a period near the end of the (Cubs) deal where the bankers called up, and they were like, 'Oh, my God! It's never going to happen,'" Ricketts told another student. At issue was how to provide basic corporate services to employees during a transition period. "I said, 'Don't worry about that. I could do all of that in my sleep,'" he recalled. Tom Ricketts also emphasized the importance of hiring talented people, then allowing them to do their jobs. He has made two signature personnel moves as owner of the Cubs: keeping Crane Kenney, a holdover from the Tribune days, as president of business operations, and hiring Theo Epstein, who as general manager of the Boston Red Sox ended that team's World Series drought in 2004, as president of baseball operations. "From my standpoint, if I have any role in this, it was to bring in good people, and to be patient," Tom Ricketts said. That strategy is a tough one to ride out, said turnaround expert Brandt, chief executive of Development Specialists Inc. "The decision to sublimate your pride, to understand what you don't know and to go out and get people who you have to listen to even though they are subordinate to you, is a real hard pill to swallow," he said. "And Ricketts did it, and he did it in a tumultuous period." It has certainly paid off financially. The ballclub is worth $2.2 billion, according to Forbes, nearly triple the $845 million purchase price in 2009. There is a public dynamic in the personnel moves as well — with Tom Ricketts seen as the swell guy and Kenney as the hard-nosed negotiator. Kenney is aware of his reputation as a polarizing figure but says while many of the team's recent negotiations have been "drama-free" and cordial — the new radio deal, a hotel partnership — there are times when firm tactics are necessary. "Sometimes you have to draw the line in the sand and not capitulate," Kenney said. In 2014, for instance, a lawyer for rooftop club owners told a city landmarks panel that Kenney had used strong-arm tactics in trying to get some to sell their properties. "Crane Kenney repeatedly told rooftop owners that ... he could now block their views (with signs) and put them out of business," Tom Moore, a lawyer for the rooftop owners, told the Commission on Chicago Landmarks at the time. "Alternatively, he said that he would buy their businesses at fire-sale prices — take it or leave it." In Kenney's mind, though, many businesses that were profiting off the Cubs' product were unwilling to deal reasonably with the team. "There were some entrenched businesses who were not going to negotiate with us in a friendly way," Kenney said, adding, "You can't negotiate with bullies and unfortunately you need to have sharp elbows in those types of negotiations." Kenney said the situation in the Wrigley Field community has "improved dramatically" in recent years. He said he believes Tom Ricketts kept him on board because the family believed in his team's strategic business plan and his performance. The pairing of a "good-guy" owner with a "tough-guy" manager, whether intentional or not in the Cubs' case, "is necessary for a successful sports organization and it just so happens to fit their respective personalities as well,"

said Marc Ganis, a sports industry consultant and president of Sportscorp Ltd. who advised Tribune Co. on the sale of the Cubs. Tribune retained a 5 percent stake in the Cubs. Chief executives of sports teams, he said, need to be able to absorb public criticism. "If a team owner is damaged on a public relations basis or politically, it limits what the team can achieve," Ganis said. Steady at the helm Playing the charismatic leading man isn't a stretch for Tom Ricketts. In a half-hour interview in one of the family's suites overlooking the left-field line, he is friendly and welcoming, a concerned host who grabbed bottled water from the mini-fridge for his guests. His gracious manner puts visitors at ease. Still, he is measured with his words and hesitant to reveal much personally beyond talking about his love of fly fishing and how he savors weekend bike rides with his children. Tom Ricketts and Cecelia, who met at Wrigley Field, have five children — three boys and two girls. To friends and associates, he comes off as friendly but understated, and quietly generous. "Tom could be your next-door neighbor and you might not even know he owns the Cubs," said Andrew McKenna, a co-investor in the Chicago Bears and formerly chairman of the White Sox and later the Cubs. His ability to connect with people has paid off socially as well. "You put him in a room where he knows no one, and by the end he'll know just about everyone there," said Jim Gaughan, a longtime friend and Chicago attorney. In college he'd be the guy to host a dormitory party. As a student at the University of Chicago, Tom Ricketts helped organize a Chinese New Year party for a break from the doldrums of a Midwestern winter. The February gathering has morphed into an elaborate production over the years. Now, it is held at the Rickettses' Wilmette home in a tent with a smorgasbord of food and drink. While the crowd has grown, many of the same faces from the University of Chicago show up. Ricketts, Gaughan said, "has been the glue that has kept us together." When asked to reveal something about his friend that would surprise people who don't know him, Gaughan paused. "I think the surprise is there is no surprise," Gaughan said. "He's an open book. Whatever the situation, he's the same guy." Political entanglements But no amount of charm, or business acumen, could prepare Tom Ricketts and the family for the political battles they would face in Chicago and Springfield. Brandt, who was chairman of the Illinois Finance Authority when the Ricketts family sought state bonds early in their ownership tenure, recalls the family's "utter naivete" about the political landscape. "As good a businessman as the father is, he's never mastered a command of the public stage," Brandt said. "If he had, Rahm Emanuel wouldn't have been so mad at him, right?" Wrigley financing talks stalled at City Hall after reports surfaced during the 2012 presidential campaign that a political fund launched by Joe Ricketts considered using racially tinged attack ads linking President Barack Obama to incendiary remarks by his former pastor. Though the Ricketts family quickly disavowed the proposal, Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, was enraged.

"The steepest learning curve I've had in the entire process is dealing with the city of Chicago issues," Tom Ricketts told the Indiana University entrepreneurship students. "It's just like something you can never really be prepared for." Even after the family decided to move forward with stadium renovations without government financial assistance, it encountered pushback on many fronts, the most vociferous from owners of rooftop clubs who objected to plans for video boards that blocked their view. The Rickettses "are dumped on from a great height," Laurence Geller, a Chicago-based hotel investor and family friend, recalled of the family's reception from critics. Though Tom Ricketts engaged in some saber-rattling of his own, at one point even threatening to haul the Cubs to the suburbs, he ultimately chose to navigate the fast-moving political currents in Chicago. "I think he's learning as he's building," Tunney, the alderman, said. "I'd say it's probably been more difficult than he anticipated." Willing to listen A key element of his eventual successes is a willingness to listen to opposing viewpoints, said Allen Sanderson, a sports economist at the University of Chicago. Sanderson, who takes a skeptical view of tax dollars subsidizing sports stadiums, opposed the Rickettses' attempt in 2010 to get state bond financing for Wrigley Field renovations. So it was all the more surprising to Sanderson when Tom Ricketts called to introduce himself and invite him to lunch. "We gossiped for an hour and then we talked business," Sanderson said. "He just wanted to understand why I was opposed." The two agreed to disagree on the issue, but a friendship blossomed. Sanderson went on to do consulting work for the Cubs on ticket pricing and provide pro bono advice on dealing with rooftop owners. "There is sort of a tendency to view the rooftop owners as bad guys, not necessarily as people but in taking the Cubs' product," he said. "I tend to think the rooftops actually are helping the Cubs' product ... by creating ambience in the neighborhood." After all, it was at a party on one of those rooftops where, according to family lore, Tom Ricketts began to win over his father on the idea of buying the Cubs. In the end, the Ricketts family managed to defuse much of the rooftop standoff with a combination of hardball legal maneuvering and financial largesse. A company controlled by the Ricketts family has bought 10 of the 16 rooftop clubs and farmed out management to a hospitality group owned by George Loukas, a Wrigleyville bar owner and former owner of two rooftop buildings. They have done this even though the courts have consistently backed the Cubs over the rooftop owners, and the team, after a series of battles, has prevailed in building new outfield video boards. Beyond the rooftops, the Rickettses are pressing ahead at reshaping the neighborhood. A team-owned hotel is going up on the west side of Clark Street. A fan plaza and team offices are being built in the triangle along the ballpark's third-base side. And Tom Ricketts has an ever-bolder vision for the area.

"I talk about lighting (the ballpark) just right so on a warm summer night when the team's out of town, you just want to be there anyway," he told the Indiana business students. "Kind of like when you're walking through a town in Europe and you stumble across the castle or the fountain or a palace of some sort and you see people hanging out. I think Wrigley can do that." Winning over the neighbors, though, will remain a challenge. For the family that owns the 50-year-old Luis Auto Repair shop across Addison Street from Wrigley Field, the bulldozers and cranes represent a mixed blessing — one that could usher in additional customers but also higher property taxes. "With all the construction, our property taxes are through the roof now," said manager Greg Resendiz, grandson of the founder. "That's probably the most pressing thing, our cost of living here." Still, the family opted to remain anchored in its red-brick and glass-block garage in the shadow of Wrigley Field, rejecting a developer's buyout offer. On a leafy side street lined with graceful graystone flats, another neighbor, Russell Malcolm, shared other concerns while walking his dog. "I feel like it's becoming more of a corporate-y, Hollywood place for tourists to come and play," said Malcolm, who works in the commercial lending industry. "I feel the Cubs kind of strong-armed the city into doing what they wanted. ... It's kind of sad. It feels like (the neighborhood) is losing some of its soul." Tom Ricketts said he understands that neighborhood change makes people uncomfortable but he feels confident the projects themselves will calm nerves. "Once everybody sees how great it is," he said on his visit to Indiana University, "I don't think we'll have that much more drama." Off-the-field involvement Today, Tom Ricketts is rising quickly to the upper echelons of the city's close-knit business world — a coterie of civic and philanthropic leaders still feeling a depletion of ranks stemming from the exit of some major corporate headquarters over the past two decades. "When you lose corporations, you lose the leadership, the contributions — and that has happened, no question about it," said Lester Crown, one of the city's most civically engaged business leaders. "Tom has come in and filled one of those spots." In 2011, Chicago was rebuilding its tourism efforts. Don Welsh, the newly recruited tourism chief, thought it would be a great idea to commission a theme song. He floated the idea with Tom Ricketts, an active member of the recently reconstituted tourism board and a fellow music fan. With quiet financial support from the Ricketts family, the project got started. In April 2012, the new song, "Chicago," a collaboration between Umphrey's McGee, the band Chicago and blues legend Buddy Guy, debuted at the Park West. It bombed. "I can laugh now," said Welsh, who left Choose Chicago in January for a position in Washington, D.C. At the time, it wasn't so funny. Such projects can cost more than $100,000. But Tom Ricketts was "incredibly gracious," Welsh recalls. "We did it, we tried it, when it didn't test too well, we moved on. And not one time was that subject ever brought up" again. The story reveals a good deal about Tom Ricketts and the Ricketts family's civic and philanthropic endeavors locally: a willingness to jump into the fray with time and money, but often without fanfare.

"They are very philanthropic but they prefer to give quietly," said Eric Weinheimer, president and chief executive of Forefront, a statewide organization representing nonprofits and philanthropies. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly how much the family donates locally. The family does not show up on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list of donations over $1 million, either for 2015 or 2016 to date. But the NOZA database of charitable gifts shows family contributions of an undisclosed sum to many cornerstone institutions, from the University of Chicago to the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium. While the family declined to provide a donation total, a spokesman outlined some activities. Cubs Charities, which raises money from fans as well as corporate and civic partners, has invested $18 million in community organizations and projects under Ricketts family ownership, he said. And Incapital, the bond company founded by Tom Ricketts, since 2005 has helped the Calvert Foundation sell $250 million in bonds to help fund projects aimed at stemming poverty and pollution. Still working it This season, all of the pieces have come together on the field, with the Cubs exceeding 100 wins and carrying the best record in baseball into the postseason. "If they win the World Series," said Sal Galatioto, a Ricketts family business adviser, "who gets more credit than him?" The ballpark, always an attraction even in loss-heavy years, has been packed all season. The days when Tom Ricketts could walk through the stands and sit down for a beer with a fan are over. By the end of his upper-deck stroll during the game against the Cardinals, the crowd around him clogged the concourse, much to the chagrin of the beer vendors. Before retreating to the suite level, Ricketts made time to talk with Emily Cedergren, 85, of Palatine. "I've been a fan of the Cubs for 85 years," she recalled telling the owner. "I remember the 1945 World Series. "I told him, 'I love you for what you're doing. I love the Cubs.' I told him I was excited for the playoffs." But most of all, she told him, she is hoping that this is the year. Like the thinnest layer of tissue paper, her remarks added to the pile of expectations that Tom Ricketts hears every day, wherever he goes. His response, she said, was a modest one: "I'm working on it." -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs notes: Theo Trio all extended through 2021, and Soler update By Gordon Wittenmyer CINCINNATI – Two days after announcing a five-year contract extension for team president Theo Epstein, the Cubs, as expected, on Friday said they had extended general manager Jed Hoyer and top player development/scouting executive Jason McLeod to extensions that also take them through 2021. It ensures the club’s ability to maintain 10 years of continuity with its top baseball executives, who began an organizational rebuild in the fall of 2011. The Theo Trio appeared close to getting broken up when McLeod interviewed for the Twins’ top baseball job this month. “Continuity is really, really important,” manager Joe Maddon said. “People don’t quite understand that unless you’re involved in that or, more important, when you’re involved in a situation where you don’t have that.

“It’s exciting. Everything about it is,” said Maddon, who took over last season as the team turned a competitive corner, guiding the Cubs to back-to-back postseasons. Maddon, who repeatedly credits the front office with doing all the “heavy lifting” in team building before he arrived, sees the extensions of the guys at the top as an extension of the vision for a lengthy run of success as well. “I know in the past the Cubs haven’t been as successful as they wanted to be, but I don’t know that all the different ingredients had been put into place this well,” he said. “So looking ahead, you just want to build off what you’ve done. Last year was a good building block. This year, you want to keep it moving forward, and of course our goal is to play the final game of the year and win “Under these circumstances, I think it becomes more believable on an annual basis.” Outfield outlook Outfielder Chris Coghlan returned to the lineup Friday just two days after leaving a game with a “mild” ankle sprain, and looks on track to be ready for the playoffs next week. Jorge Soler’s status for the first round could be determined in large part by Sunday’s season finale. Soler, who went on a tear during the NLDS last year, has only four at-bats in the last two weeks because of soreness in his right side. An MRI early in the week revealed no abnormalities, the team said, and Soler on Friday said he felt good and hoped to play Saturday. Maddon said Sunday was more likely. Given the Cubs’ expectations of playing deep into October, Maddon suggested the Cubs could play it cautious with Soler and leave him off the roster in the first round, then re-evaluate for a potential NLCS. “We have to consider all those different factors,” he said. Z-Man earning A’s Rookie left-hander Rob Zastryzny closed out his debut season for the Cubs with 3 2/3 innings in Thursday’s big-league starting debut in Pittsburgh – a 1-1 tie ended by rain in the sixth. “If it is the end for me, I gave it all I had and tried to help the team as best I could,” said Zastryzny, a 2013 second-round draft pick, who didn’t give up an earned run Thursday and finished with a 1.13 ERA in 16 big-league innings. “I was really excited about how everything turned out this year.” One rival scout who watched him pitch Thursday believes Zastryzny can be competitive for the fifth-starter job in next year’s Cubs rotation, calling him “a left-handed Kyle Hendricks.” Zastryzny, 24, said one of the biggest things he got out of this year was watching veterans prepare. “I know what it takes to be here; now I know what it takes to stay here,” he said. “I’ve just got to do exactly what I need to do to stay here because I love it uup here. “It’s the greatest experience I’ve ever had in my life, and I don’t want it to end.” Notes: Maddon said he’s known the starting four of his playoff rotation, in order, for about a week but doesn’t plan to announce it until next week. Do said pitchers know? “They’re not stupid,” said Maddon, who has Jon Lester and Hendricks lined up for the first two games Friday and Saturday. … Right-hander Jake Buchanan, who was signed by the Cubs April 3 after being released by the Astros, pitched five scoreless innings in his first start for the Cubs — his first appearance in more than three weeks — to beat the Reds 7-3. He finishes the season with one run allowed in six innings (1.50). “I was just hoping to throw strikes and compete,” said Buchanan, who over parts of three seasons has a 3.75 ERA in 50 1/3 big-league innings. “Felt good to get back out there.” … Maddon said he supported and sympathized with Reds manager Bryan Price, who wasn’t allowed enough time Thursday night to

challenge a game-ending hit for the Cardinals – in part because, he said, he couldn’t hear the phone in the visitors dugout in St. Louis over the crowd noise as his video crew tried to contact him. “I’ve even thought we should actually have a blinker that comes on so that in spite of some noise they [can get through],” Maddon said. … The Reds announced a one-year extension for Price. -- Chicago Sun-Times Zen of Zo: Why veteran’s influence key to sustained Cubs success By Gordon Wittenmyer CINCINNATI – Ben Zobrist hit two home runs with a double in between to help power the Cubs to a 7-3 victory over the Reds on Friday night. It’s the third three-hit game in Zobrist’s last seven games – with six walks and 21 total bases in that stretch – as he heats up just in time for next week’s playoff opener. Even before the big game Friday, a longtime National League scout said he graded Zobrist as the toughest out in the Cubs’ playoff lineup. “He thrives this time of year,” manager Joe Maddon said. Yet to fully measure the value the Cubs envisioned with last winter’s four-year, $56 million free-agent investment, ask Zobrist whether he’s considered how quickly young, Gold Glove-caliber infielder Javy Baez might chase down his second base starting job. “If we’ve got younger, more athletic, quicker guys to play those positions,” he said, “and offensively and defensively it makes more sense for somebody else to play second, and for me to play the outfield – I mean, that’s the goal. You’ve got to put the best team on the field.” Nobody’s talking about the idea of Zobrist – a three-time All-Star with a 2015 World Series ring – spending more time on the bench. And regardless, it’s a more apt conversation for next February than this fall as the calendar flips to October and drips with anticipation for the Cubs. But watching how manager Joe Maddon has continually rearranged all the moving parts to his versatile batting order and best-in-baseball defensive crew to get this team to this lofty perch on Oct. 1, it’s also tempting to wonder how the parts get moved to sustain the success going forward. Especially as Baez continued to impress this season – leaned on more heavily as the season progressed to handle anticipated infield hot spots at third or second almost daily. And as the cerebral, steady elder statesman in Zobrist looks ahead at three more seasons as a central figure for the team. “Honestly, I haven’t played well enough defensively, as good as I think I can play defensively, this year,” Zobrist, 35, said, adding Wrigley Field has been a tough adjustment after playing most of his career in Tampa Bay with the truer, higher turf bounces. “It’s been difficult. It’s been hard for me to get my footing at times. And I’m not as fast as I used to be,” he said. “And [in Tampa] the ball was always bouncing a lot. And I didn’t have to bend as low.” He laughs at that. But he doesn’t downplay the effect he believes it has all had on his infield range. He also doesn’t flinch at moving off his middle infield comfort zone to play more outfield if it means making room for somebody like Baez – if that means a stronger team.

“Seeing him come into his own offensively this year, how well he’s made the adjustment and how well he plays defensively, obviously there’s times when it’s better for him to be at second base than me to be at second base,” said Zobrist, who told the Cubs last winter he would play any position they asked as long as it meant signing with such a talented young team. “They signed me here to be a veteran leader, to contribute what I can contribute offensively and defensively,” he said, “and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that over the course of the season.” In fact, teammates talk about his work ethic and preparation. Maddon and the staff laud his influence. And the Cubs’ best record in more than 100 years (102-57 and counting) at least suggests a good fit. “At times I’m like, ‘I need to be better in order for our team to be better defensively,’ “ he said. “So I know it’s not going to get any easier the next three years. “It’s not about being perfect. It’s about bringing your best to the team. And we just have such a capable team all the way across the board – very capable guys – that you’ve got to be willing to be flexible.” Whether it’s a function of Zobrist’s influence or a larger group mindset carried over from last year’s success in Maddon’s first year as Cubs manager, Baez sounds as willing as Zobrist to be flexible. “Our goal is to win,” Baez said. “Time will keep going; things are going to keep changing; they [will] make a decision on my position and everything’s going to be good. “Right now, I just want to win that World Series ring for Chicago.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs’ Ross on family, memories and one last squat behind the dish By Steve Greenberg CINCINNATI — David Ross — or “Grandpa Rossy,” as he’ll be immortalized in Cubs lore — has been lavished with attention and love by his teammates all season, especially as he wound down toward Saturday’s final regular-season start of his career. How fitting that it should take place here, the only one of Ross’ seven big-league stops where he was a true No. 1 catcher. “All these emotions and all the praise I’ve been getting lately, it’s just overwhelming and one of those things I’m not really used to having been a backup most of my career,” Ross said. “So I’m ready for that to kind of fade and to just go into playoff mode and get ready to work. I’m thinking about October.” The truth is, that’s not all that’s been rattling around inside his 39-year-old head. He finds himself thinking about such things as his very first at-bat in the Show. It was 2002 and Ross’ Dodgers were playing in Anaheim, where the Angels’ Aaron Sele was three outs from a 7-0 shutout. Ross was warming up a reliever in the bullpen when he got word that he was on deck. “I ran in from the bullpen as fast as I could,” Ross recalled with a laugh, “but Paul LoDuca swung at the first pitch.” LoDuca was out, and Ross — out of breath — was up. He remembers Dave Roberts rushing him a helmet and battling gloves, and Sele striking him out before he knew what had hit him. Veteran Erik Karros told him after he walked down the dugout steps that striking out in one’s first major league at-bat was a good thing — there was nowhere to go but up.

A week later, Ross started his first game in St. Louis. The Cardinals had a loaded lineup, but Ross helped Hideo Nomo go seven strong innings and caught every pitch of an 11-inning victory. He also threw out Edgar Renteria, the first player to attempt a steal on him. The nerves going into that game were out of control, but Ross was good to go — always would be — once the gear was on and he was squatted behind home plate. “It’s a very calming, comforting spot for me,” he said. So many memories. Ross was asked yet again if he’s really retiring, and he answered by talking about nine-year-old daughter Landri’s growing infatuation with volleyball, about teaching seven-year old Cole to fish, about falling asleep with tiny Harper on his chest and not having to pass her to wife Hyla so he can catch a plane. He thinks about being a better dad all the time and finds that it, too, gives him calm and comfort. “Look, I’ve gotten to live my dream. Selfishly, I’ve worked hard at it,” he said. “But I’ve gotten to live an incredible life — and it’s been fun — so it’s time now to throw myself into my kids’ lives and be a part of that. I think if you want to influence your kids, you have to be part of their lives. It’s hard to be a part of their lives with this [ballplayer’s] lifestyle.” Before he knows it, he’ll be Grandpa Rossy for real. “They’re growing up so fast,” he said. “Life is changing so fast.” Ross is determined to give everything he has to Jon Lester Saturday as the lefthander goes for a milestone — 20 victories — of his own. From there, it’s World Series title or bust. Yet there’ve been little things — sentimental moments and gestures — competing for his time and attention before his job is done. Four mornings in a row in Pittsburgh, the Cubs’ next-to-last stop of the regular-season, Ross, Anthony Rizzo and strength coach Tim Buss worked out at a favorite gym before grabbing lunch in Market Square. In Cincinnati, Ross planned to drag teammates each morning to a classic old diner he’s never quite gotten his fill of. He’s drinking in all he can before it’s over. “I’ll be able to walk down the streets of Chicago in three months,” he said, “and nobody will know who Grandpa is.” Not likely. -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs vs. Red Sox in the World Series makes perfect sense By Rick Morrissey It might seem like the world is all chaos, that order or symmetry or neat packages don’t exist. But some things do make perfect sense. I’m thinking specifically of Newton’s laws of motion. And beer. Also, a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. It’s the only right, logical thing. For the Cubs to overcome all of their history and demons, facing the Red Sox would seem to be required mountain climbing. The Cubs are basically Boston West. Team chairman Tom Ricketts hired

away Theo Epstein, who had had a big hand in ending the Red Sox’ World Series drought in 2004. Granted, winning that franchise’s first title in 86 years is amateur hour compared with the Cubs’ 107-year drought, but you get the idea. Ricketts hired Epstein as president to do what hasn’t been done on the North Side since Al Capone was in the third grade. Epstein’s first huge signing, the signing that announced it was finally time to win, was former Boston pitcher Jon Lester in 2014. Another ex-Red Sox, John Lackey, would arrive a year later. When Ricketts wanted to renovate rickety Wrigley Field, he looked at how the Red Sox redid Fenway Park and pretty much copied everything, right down to the large video board. The Cubs-Red Sox connection looks a little like the “special relationship’’ between the United States and the United Kingdom, with similar amounts of trust and suspicion. If Ricketts now says things like, “I pahked my cah at the yahd today,’’ nobody would be surprised. And, if you believe in such things, both teams have dealt with curses. In 1920, Boston sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees, who went on to win 27 World Series. The Red Sox didn’t win another one until 2004. Hence, the Curse of the Bambino. The Cubs have the Billy Goat Curse, which purportedly started in 1945 when bar owner Billy Sianis, upset that team officials had asked that he and his smelly goat leave Wrigley Field, either declared that the franchise would never win a World Series game at Wrigley or that it would never play in the World Series again. As you can see, the cosmos cries out for this matchup. The best team in the National League against arguably the best team in the American League. And, if we are to believe the Cubs’ overworked schmaltz machine, David Ross’ farewell vs. David Ortiz’s farewell. Talking about a Cubs-Red Sox World Series might strike many as premature, if not dangerous, fate-wise, but come on, what’s a more powerful force: the Cubs’ 101 victories so far this season or the 107 seasons since they last won a World Series? OK, forget I mentioned that. The club’s success the past two seasons has put a strut in the step of Cubs fans who previously had tiptoed around the subject of winning a title. People who probably should know better are talking about not being satisfied with just one championship. They see a dynasty in the making. If you’re going to accomplish that, you should have to beat your mentor. That’s the plot of about 1,000 movies. The playoffs don’t start until next week, and the Cubs don’t yet know the identity of their first opponent. I’ve already written that the N.L. Division Series opponent that would freak them out the most, if they’re capable of being freaked out, would be their archrivals, the Cardinals. If this were epic poetry, the Cards would be another logical barrier that would need to be hurdled. If you have a sense of humor, you might favor a Cubs-Indians World Series, given that Cleveland hasn’t won a championship since 1948. There would be the inevitable jokes about a Game 7 between the two teams going into extra-innings infinity, like pi. But Cubs-Red Sox would be better and more harmonious for the universe. This just makes too much sense. Hearty people, Bostonians, just like us. Down to earth, but more than a little parochial, just like us. Same kind of fall weather. Same long association with baseball. People and history would be dressed in layers. The best hitting team in the game, the Red Sox, against the best pitching team, the Cubs. There are lots of other steps that need to be taken before either team can get to the World Series. And maybe it is indeed tweaking fate’s nose to skip right to the championship round, especially when it involves a team that hasn’t won a title since 1908 and hasn’t played for one since 1945. But it seems so right, so obvious that I’d like to think that fate wants to see this too. Fate certainly has shown a lot of interest in the Cubs over the years. An inordinate amount of interest. --

Daily Herald Cubs win 102nd as Maddon balances workload, rest By Bruce Miles CINCINNATI -- Way back when, about the time the Chicago Cubs clinched the National League Central, manager Joe Maddon was asked about the differences between clinching early and clinching at the wire. Maddon tabled the discussion at the time, saying he needed to experience clinching early. Now that Maddon has had a couple of weeks to digest things, he can give a better assessment. "I think you eventually know when you start playing the (postseason) games," he said Friday, before the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-3 at the Great American Ball Park and improve to 102-57. The Cubs got a pair of homers from Ben Zobrist. "The differences are like I've been talking about, really juggling lineups and getting guys playing time and getting guys rest and at the same time still trying to keep them sharp. "The game on a nightly basis doesn't have the same flavor as it normally would just because that's the truth. But we've still been playing well, with the lack of playoff motivation. We're already there. So right now, it's almost like reverse, where you're not in it at all and you're in it so firmly that you have the same kind of feeling going on about it. We'll know better how well we've done once we actually start playing." Zobrist seemed to agree. "I think all of our guys, if not physically, then mentally at least, we feel like we've been able to take a little breather," he said. "That helps, especially at this time of year. You're not having to press and push. Sometimes I think that can be a dangerous thing, too. We're trying to make a concerted effort these last three games to really stay in that competitive frame of mind and go out there and play good baseball and get ready for next Friday (Game 1 of the division series)." Maddon added that now is not the important time. "I'm not concerned about his moment right here as much as those four days before (the division series starts)," he said. "That's the part where you really have to fill those gaps. We're still playing the game. Guys are still getting their at-bats regardless of the motivation or not. We're still playing the game and playing it well. It's just that four days prior to and you're watching everybody else." The Cubs are getting closer to making playoff roster decisions for the first round. The makeup and order of the starting rotation have been big talking points. Many observers feel Jon Lester will start Game 1 followed by Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey. "We haven't had that final conversation with Theo (team president Epstein) and Jed (GM Hoyer) and everybody else and our coaches," Maddon said. "We have an idea what we want to do. But what I like to do under these circumstances is talk to the players first before they have to read it in the newspaper." The Cubs got a spot start Friday from Jake Buchanan. He was subbing for Jason Hammel, who is experiencing elbow tightness. Buchanan acquitted himself well, working 5 scoreless innings, giving up 2 hits. Cubs batters didn't reach against Reds starting pitcher Josh Smith until Zobrist homered to right field leading off the fifth. It was Zobrist's 16th home run of the season. He added a 2-run homer in the eighth, as the Cubs broke the game open with 4 runs. --

Daily Herald Chicago Cubs give Hoyer, McLeod contract extensions By Bruce Miles CINCINNATI -- The band is staying together. Just a couple of days after the Cubs announced a five-year contract extension for baseball president Theo Epstein, they added to that Friday by announcing that general manager Jed Hoyer and scouting and player-development chief Jason McLeod had their contracts extended through 2021. Hoyer and McLeod came to the Cubs in the fall of 2011, when Epstein was hired to run baseball operations. Field manager Joe Maddon was hired before the 2015 season, and he said he likes the continuity. "It's nice to keep the band together," he said. "Continuity is really, really important. People don't quite understand that unless you get involved in that or you're involved in a situation that does not have continuity. I talk about relationships all the time. When you have that, obviously there are strong relationships there. Everybody trusts one another. "Here's the part that I love about it when you have those two components and they're firmly entrenched. You can have an open conversation. And nobody's worried about who's right. There's not a concern about, 'I'm right and you're wrong.' It eliminates pushback. It really enhances communication. At the end of the day, you're just about getting it right, and it doesn't matter who's right. Let's just get it right. We obviously have the relationships, the trust and this open conversation going on, which I think is the core of any good organization." Quoted in a news release, Epstein praised both Hoyer and McLeod. "Jed and Jason are simply the best at what they do and have played fundamentally important leadership roles in helping the Cubs build a healthy and thriving organization," Epstein said. "We feel honored to have the stability and support that we enjoy throughout baseball operations and look forward to many years of working together in Chicago." Feeling good about it: Left-hander Rob Zastryzny acquitted himself well in Thursday night's spot start at Pittsburgh. Zastryzny worked 3⅔ innings of a game that ended in a 1-1 tie in the sixth, when rain washed out the rest of the contest. "It was awesome," he said. "I kind of (equate) to when I went up to Triple-A. I didn't know how I was going to fit, how I was going to be, talent wise. I just kind of went into it blindly. There was no real stress for me at all. I'm going to go feel it out and give it everything I've got. That's kind of how I felt yesterday. I felt very relaxed. I felt pretty confident going into it. Tim Federowicz (the catcher) did a great job. I can't say enough he did and how he went out there. He had a plan, and he stuck to my strengths and what I did in Triple-A well. We kind of went off that." Still no Soler: Outfielder Jorge Soler remains day to day with a right-side injury. Joe Maddon said he may be able to play in Sunday's regular-season finale. He also said a lingering injury could affect the playoff roster. "He has to get out there and do it," Maddon said. "Anybody that's been injured, you have to make sure they're well. The other part would be, let's say he's not 100 (percent), and you put him out there and all of a sudden he gets banged up and he's done for the remainder. Our goal is not just to play one group of games. Our goal is to play three groupings of games. If you are cautious in the beginning and eventually might have him later, you've got to consider that, also." --

Cubs.com Zo show: 2-HR night powers Cubs past Reds By Cody Pace and Carrie Muskat CINCINNATI -- In one week, the Cubs will play Game 1 of the National League Division Series. On Friday, they tuned up against the Reds. Reds spot starter Josh Smith mowed through the first four innings, carrying a perfect game on 42 pitches. However, Ben Zobrist collected the Cubs' first hit and run with a home run leading off the fifth, and the Cubs' rout was on. Zobrist added another home run, Anthony Rizzo drove in two and Addison Russell added an RBI to lead the Cubs to a 7-3 win over the Reds. "Getting a few results, hitting the ball harder, driving the ball a few times in the last week has really helped," said Zobrist, who notched his seventh career multi-homer game. "Regardless of whether you make the playoffs or not, you want to finish the season strong and try to click on all cylinders at the last game." "That ball to Zobrist, I just missed my spot," Smith said of the homer in the fifth. "That's a pitch that I was throwing, backdoor cutters all night, and it was working for me, and I just missed the spot and he took advantage of it. Got a little tired in the sixth, but other than that, felt pretty good." The Cubs piled on the insurance runs off the Reds' bullpen, driving in four in the eighth on a walk and two singles before Zobrist hit his second homer of the game, a two-run shot. That home run was the 39th by the Cubs against the Reds this season, the most against a single team in one season in franchise history. The Cubs now have topped the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers, who each totaled 38 home runs against the Reds in a single season. Most of Cincinnati's firepower came in the ninth, courtesy of a long Joey Votto homer to center field, his 29th. The Reds' only other run came in the sixth off Trevor Cahill when Jose Peraza doubled and then scored on a groundout. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Clutch: Rizzo and Russell began the day tied for the most RBIs on the Cubs in the second half with 43 each, and both added to their totals. Russell smacked an RBI double in the seventh, while Rizzo hit a two-run single in the eighth. Russell now has 95 RBIs, second most among all Major League shortstops. The Astros' Carlos Correa is first with 96. Start me up: Friday was supposed to be Jason Hammel's start, but the right-hander was scratched because of tightness in his elbow. The Cubs opted for a second straight bullpen day, and right-hander Jake Buchanan did well enough to win. He gave up two hits over five scoreless innings, walking one and striking out three. It was his third Major League start and first since 2014. "I didn't know what to expect," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of Buchanan, who had been starting at Triple-A Iowa. "We knew he was capable of 60 to 75 pitches; we knew he was efficient. Give him credit. It was a nice, typical formula for us." Buchanan admitted he didn't know what to expect, either. "With a batter in there, and the crowd, I was just hoping to throw strikes and compete," Buchanan said. "I think it's the first time in 25 days [that I've pitched in a game]. It felt good to get back out there." Votto goes deep: After an 0-for-3 start to his night, Votto got things going with a Statcast-estimated 420-foot blast to center field with a 104.1-mph exit velocity. The homer was Votto's 15th of the second half as he continues his stellar post All-Star Game stretch. With the 1-for-4 night, Votto has a .407 average in the second half. If he can maintain it, he'd be the first player since Ichiro Suzuki in 2004 to have a .400 batting average in the second half.

Cingrani's escape: Things could've gotten out of hand for the Reds in the fifth, but Tony Cingrani was able to come in and settle things down. Inheriting the bases loaded, Cingrani allowed one of Smith's runs to score on a groundout before managing to catch Kris Bryant leaning at first base. The ensuing rundown ended up getting Tommy La Stella caught between third and home, and he was eventually tracked down to end the inning. "The guy that made the play, really, was Joey," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "I think they were trying to steal a run there. Bryant gets a huge lead. Tony throws over, and La Stella breaks and realizes that he can't make it because Joey doesn't turn and fire to the shortstop, he turns and checks the runner first and gets La Stella in the rundown. That's how that play has to work." QUOTABLE "There weren't a lot of really golden moments in that game beyond the home run and the job that Smitty did. However, I wish I had more to tell you, but that's about it." – Price SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Pinch-hitting in the eighth, Patrick Kivlehan became the 52nd player to play for the Reds this season, the most used by the franchise in a single season since 2006. The club record is 57, set in 2003. The Cubs have homered in 10 straight games at Great American Ball Park, and have totaled 23 this year in Cincinnati. WHAT'S NEXT Cubs: Jon Lester will try for his first career 20-win season on Saturday. The lefty, who ranks second in the Major Leagues in ERA at 2.28, is 1 1/3 innings shy of 2,000 in his career, and 2 1/3 innings shy of 200 this season. He has gone 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA in four starts against the Reds this year. Lester could become the first Cubs pitcher since Rick Sutcliffe in 1984 to go 10-0 or better in the second half. Sutcliffe was 12-0 that season. First pitch will be 3:10 p.m. CT from Great American Ball Park. Reds: The Reds send rookie Tim Adleman to the mound for a 4:10 p.m. ET first pitch against the Cubs on Saturday. Adleman is coming off of a career-long seven-inning performance against the Cardinals in which he allowed two runs. In his only start against the Cubs, Adleman allowed two runs over 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision on Sept. 19. -- Cubs.com Cubs extend Hoyer, McLeod through 2021 By Carrie Muskat CINCINNATI -- The Cubs are keeping the band together. Two days after the team gave president of baseball operations Theo Epstein a five-year extension, Chicago on Friday announced extensions for general manager Jed Hoyer and senior vice president of scouting and player development Jason McLeod through 2021. "Jed and Jason are simply the best at what they do and have played fundamentally important leadership roles in helping the Cubs build a healthy and thriving organization," Epstein said in a statement on Friday. "We feel honored to have the stability and support that we enjoy throughout baseball operations and look forward to many years of working together in Chicago." Both Hoyer and McLeod joined the Cubs on Nov. 1, 2011, and along with Epstein, they have led an organizational rebuild. The Cubs lost 101 games in their first season in 2012, and this year, they have won 101 games. The Cubs are the third team in Major League history to win at least 100 games within four years of a 100-loss season. Prior to joining the Cubs, Hoyer had spent the previous 10 seasons working in MLB with the Red Sox (2002-09 with Epstein) and Padres ('10-11 with McLeod).

McLeod spent six years in Boston's scouting department before returning to San Diego after Hoyer was named general manager. During his two seasons as the club's vice president/assistant general manager, McLeod also oversaw the Padres' amateur scouting and player development efforts. "It's a great infrastructure," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Friday. "I'm very fortunate to be here, and I mean it, the heavy lifting had been done. You could see immediately what the guys had done here and the plan." Maddon said he was happy not only for Hoyer and McLeod, but also for their families. "I know what it means to the person who has worked hard to get there, and then his entire family, it's pretty special," Maddon said. "It's nice to keep the band together. Continuity is real, real important." -- Cubs.com Zobrist's big game shows benefits of rest By Carrie Muskat CINCINNATI -- Ben Zobrist has been hot and cold this season, and it's not just his batting average. He warms up before each game by soaking for about five minutes in 106-degree water. After the game, the Cubs' versatile veteran completes a stretching routine, and then cools off in a 57-degree cold tub. He started the routine in Tampa Bay to deal with the turf there, and it's paying off now as he hopes to lead the Cubs deep into the postseason. On Friday, Zobrist belted two home runs, a solo shot leading off the fifth and a two-run blast in the eighth for the seventh multi-homer game of his career, to help Chicago post a 7-3 victory over Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. Manager Joe Maddon knows Zobrist well. They were together with Tampa Bay, and Maddon credits Zobrist's recent friskiness at the plate to being rested. "R-E-S-T-E-D, that's what it means to me," Maddon said. "The everyday Major League player, people have no idea how difficult that is to do. Plus, he's 35. That's not easy. With the everyday guy, you have to get them off their feet. It's hard to replicate and be that consistent every day -- we're just talking hitting now. ... The way we got to this particular point has been wonderful so we can provide these guys a chance to refuel their tanks." The Cubs clinched the National League Central in mid-September, and they have had the luxury of giving the regulars breathers so they are fresh when the playoffs begin. Chicago opens the NL Division Series on Oct. 7 at home against the winner of the Wild Card Game. Zobrist wants to be ready. "Sometimes, you just feel like you're just surviving for parts of the season," Zobrist said. "The last couple weeks, knowing that we've clinched, and knowing some of these games weren't going to matter all that much, I definitely tried to make a concerted effort to maintain an element of competitiveness and try to have good quality at-bats and not cash anything in. I think everybody in the clubhouse is trying to do that now. I'm consistently making adjustments. You're going to have to do that in the postseason, too." Zobrist is feeling much better now than he did earlier this season. In May, he was batting .406 with a .483 on-base percentage, but those numbers dipped the next three months, and he hit .221 in June, .212 in July and .270 in August. Zobrist believes in the power of rest. "I think all of our guys -- if not physically, mentally at least -- you feel you can take a little breather, and that helps at this time of year," Zobrist said. "You're not having to press or push. We're trying to stay in that competitive frame of mind and go out and play good baseball and get ready for next Friday."

Zobrist credits Rays athletic trainer Ron Porterfield with his soaking routine. "I was open to how I could be more rested, and we talked about the turf," Zobrist said. "We would come off the road, and I would feel great, and we'd be home for four days in a row, and my body would start hurting, and they said, 'That's the turf.'" Porterfield suggested the stretching and soaking pre- and postgame, and it's worked, though it does take some getting used to. "Neither of them are really comfortable," Zobrist said of his dips. "It tells your body what to be ready for. When you get used to it, I think it helps you. It really does make a difference for me, anyway." -- Cubs.com Lester eyeing win No. 20 as Cubs face Reds By Cody Pace On Saturday against the Reds, Cubs starter Jon Lester will be chasing a career milestone -- his first 20-win season. Lester is tied with the Nationals' Max Scherzer atop the National League leaderboard with 19 wins. Scherzer pitches Sunday, so Lester will have a chance to be the first NL pitcher to reach the 20-win mark and the third in MLB this season, behind the Blue Jays' J.A. Happ (20) and Red Sox's Rick Porcello (22). Lester is also posting a career-best ERA, 18 points ahead of his 2014 mark with Oakland and Boston. Opposite Lester, Tim Adleman takes the mound for the Reds. Adleman is coming off his best start of the season, pitching a career-high seven innings and allowing two runs in a 15-2 win over the Cardinals. Adleman hasn't walked a batter in his past 13 1/3 innings. Things to know about this game • Lester has had his fair share of success in four starts against the Reds this season, with a 1.95 ERA in 27 2/3 innings and a .194 average against him. The Cubs are 4-0 in Lester's starts against the Reds this season. • Adleman had a solid outing in his lone start against the Cubs this season, limiting them to five hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings. Both runs came courtesy of solo homers -- one from Willson Contreras and one from Addison Russell. • Brandon Phillips, who is a career .333 hitter against Lester, is questionable to play Saturday with a left hand injury that's kept him out since Sept. 28. Right fielder Scott Schebler is also questionable to play with a left hamstring injury. Schebler and Phillips have been among the Reds' best second-half hitters, with .296/.361/.471 and .335/.350/.478 lines, respectively. -- Cubs.com Maddon has playoff rotation in mind, not ready to reveal yet By Carrie Muskat CINCINNATI -- Manager Joe Maddon admitted on Friday that he's had the Cubs' postseason rotation set in his mind for about a week, but he was not ready to reveal it until he can meet with the front office and the coaching staff. "We haven't had that final conversation with [president of baseball operations Theo Epstein] and [general manager Jed Hoyer] and everybody else, all of our coaches," Maddon said. "What I like to do under these circumstances is talk to the players first before they have to read about it in the newspaper."

With Jason Hammel missing his start on Friday because of tightness in his right elbow, he could be the odd man out, leaving Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey. The Cubs, who clinched the National League Central in mid-September, won't know who they will face in the NL Division Series until the Wild Card Game is played on Oct. 5. The NLDS begins Oct. 7 at Wrigley Field. Would Maddon change the rotation depending on their postseason opponent? "At this point, I don't think it really does [matter]," Maddon said. "We haven't finalized it. We have the right to change things." Whoever starts Game 3 on Oct. 10 will have an extended break. "You do your best to meet the challenge," Maddon said. "You don't make excuses, you don't cry about it, you just do it." Worth noting • Rob Zastryzny is most likely the first pitcher ever to make his first Major League start, have the game end in a tie and then have to wear a cheerleader outfit. The skirt-and-sweater combo was part of the Cubs' annual rookie dress-up trip after Thursday's game. "I think [John] Lackey said if I pitch well enough, I might have to wear a cheerleader outfit for every start," Zastryzny said. The lefty gave up one unearned run on two hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings against the Pirates, and the game was suspended after five innings because of rain at PNC Park. It will not be made up, resulting in the Cubs' first tie since May 28, 1993, against the Expos. "I heard a quote a long time ago that tying a baseball game is like kissing your sister, and that's kind of how it felt," Zastryzny said. "Someone said if the game doesn't count, the stats don't count. I was like, 'Oh, man, I want to have 16 even innings.'" If that was Zastryzny's last outing of the year, he finished with 16 innings, which is a nice, even number. His mother was able to make it to Pittsburgh for the game. "I was really excited with how everything turned out this year," Zastryzny said. "I'm excited that if it is my last outing, I got to start and I can build off that going into next season. I have a real good idea about what it takes to be a starter in the big leagues. "I know what it takes to be here, and I know what it takes to stay here. It's the greatest experience I've ever had in my life, and I don't want it to end." • Jorge Soler took batting practice on Friday, but he most likely won't start until Sunday. Soler has been bothered by discomfort in his right side, and he has had two MRIs, but both have come back clean. The plan was to re-evaluate Soler after Friday's workout. His status for the postseason may be in doubt if he isn't healthy. • David Ross, who played for the Reds from 2006-08, was presented a gift basket by the team that included pine tar soap, which does smell like, well, pine tar. Ross was a backup on the Reds at that time, but he became Bronson Arroyo's personal catcher. He also belted 21 home runs in 90 games with the Reds in '06. "This is where I learned the backup role was my gig," said Ross, 39, who is retiring after this season and has been feted by the teams he played with. The Reds planned on a video tribute to Ross on Sunday, as well.

-- Cubs.com For Cubs worriers: Is the momentum gone? By Phil Rogers CHICAGO -- They say a baseball team's momentum is only as good as its next day's starting pitcher. The Cubs just might be riding momentum all the way through October and into November, if necessary, if that's true. Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey will be an edge against every opponent the Cubs face. They're not dependent on any one starter but have four who can frustrate the game's best hitters. They'd still have the best starters in the postseason if you substituted No. 5 starter Jason Hammel for any of the other four. The Cubs have quality and they have quantity, which along with state-of-the-art fielding is why they've gone 38-16 since July 31, just as Arrieta and Lester were the biggest reasons they went 44-18 after July in 2015. No team can match this supply of effective, healthy starting pitchers. Manager Joe Maddon has subtly limited their workloads since June, when they first captured a double-digit lead in the National League Central, and they all seem to have plenty of gas in the tank. That's huge. Just look around Major League Baseball at all the impact starters who have been sidelined or diminished by health concerns. The Mets are missing three of the four starters who rolled through the Cubs in the NL Championship Series last season. The Nationals are missing Stephen Strasburg but won't get any sympathy from the Indians, who are deciding whether to replace both Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar or try to get by with three starting pitchers. The Red Sox and Rangers are loaded at the front of the rotation, but things get dicey when they get past the 1-2 combinations of Rick Porcello-David Price and Cole Hamels-Yu Darvish, respectively. The Giants are the only team beyond the Cubs who can go four-deep with quality starters, but they plan to use Madison Bumgarner in the Wild Card Game, if they get there, which thins the rotation a little for a potential trip to the NLDS. The Cubs, on the other hand, will be playing simulated games to keep their starters in a rhythm. But these are guys who know the drill. Not that they need another advantage, but here is one: Lester (3-0, 0.43 ERA in three World Series starts) and Lackey (20 starts, 127 1/3 innings in the postseason, tops among active pitchers) both already have won two World Series rings, including one they earned together only three years ago in Boston. They know how to win, and you better believe that matters. Arrieta and Hendricks gained experience last October that will help them this time around. Maddon hasn't formally announced how he'll line up his starters for the NLDS, but it appears he's going to lead with Lester, making him the guy for a deciding Game 5, if necessary, and then go Hendricks, Arrieta and Lackey. As strong as these guys are, he could have pulled names out of a hat and not been wrong. Here's how they look as they wait for the bell to ring: Lester -- He was the first free agent in years to join the Cubs thinking he could win, and he has. He's had his best season this year as a 32-year-old, compiling a 2.28 ERA that includes a 1.34 mark in 13 starts since the All-Star

break. He'll try to finish off his first 20-win season on Saturday in Cincinnati, which would strengthen his chance of beating Max Scherzer and Hendricks in a tough race for Cy Young votes. Hendricks -- The fifth starter when the season began, Hendricks has used his command and darting, diving changeup to become the first Cub since 1945 to lead the NL in ERA (he'll take a 1.99 mark into a Sunday start, with no one between him and Lester). He's been the most consistent starter in the Majors, allowing no more than four earned runs in any start. He's been a killer at Wrigley Field (1.36) and like Lester has gotten better as he's gone (1.32 ERA in 13 second-half starts). Arrieta -- The reigning NL Cy Young winner looked off to the races again in April, when he hung up zeros in three of his first four starts, including a no-hitter in Cincinnati, but he's been inconsistent since late June. He's 7-6 with a 4.44 ERA in his last 16 starts, including a seven-run outing at Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The good news is he's thrown only 197 1/3 innings, more than 50 fewer than the regular season and postseason combined last year. He shouldn't hit a wall this October. Lackey -- He was signed away from the Cardinals with October in mind. He wasn't as effective in the regular season as he was a year ago but still turned in a 3.35 ERA over 188 1/3 innings. He spent time on the DL with a sore shoulder in August but finished fine (4-1, 2.34 ERA in his last nine starts). His slider emerged as a major weapon this season and could be especially effective against anxious hitters in October. Consider the Cubs ready for a long ride, behind a rotation built for the job. -- ESPNChicago.com Some Z's might have helped Ben Zobrist as he prepares for Cubs' playoff run By Jesse Rogers CINCINNATI -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon thinks he knows the key to the re-emergence of Ben Zobrist at the plate this month. In fact, Maddon broke into song about it after the Cubs' 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night. He replaced the Aretha Franklin lyric "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" with "R-E-S-T-E-D, that’s what it means to me." “That’s why you want to give them some time down,” Maddon said after Zobrist hit two home runs in the win. “That’s what it can look like. The everyday major league player, people have no idea how difficult that is to do. Plus, he’s 35 years old.” Zobrist got his rest after the Cubs clinched and now he might be getting hot at the right moment; Maddon called it “his time of year.” Zobrist was on fire last October for the Kansas City Royals en route to their World Series title, and he’s hoping the same is happening now. “Getting a few results here, hitting the ball harder in the last week or so,” Zobrist said. “Sometimes you feel like you’re just surviving for parts of the season.” "Survive" is exactly what he did. After a torrid May, Zobrist fell off during the summer, hitting .221 and .212, respectively, over the next two months. He started to resurface in August, hitting .270, but his batting average isn’t the story. More important is his plate discipline and on-base percentage. They go hand in hand. With two games to play, Zobrist has an eye-popping 95 walks to just 80 strikeouts. According to ESPN Stats & Information, only one player (Albert Pujols) since 2008 (the Barry Bonds days) has had 95 or more walks with 80 or fewer strikeouts. Zobrist hasn’t even played every day this month, and yet he has 20 free passes and an on-base percentage better than .400. “I tried to make a concerted effort to maintain an element of competitiveness,” Zobrist said of post-clinching games. “Not cash anything in. ... It’s been a lot better than it did feel in June, July and August. This month is much better than those months.”

There were some tough stretches, but Maddon will easily take that walk-to-strikeout difference combined with 17 home runs and a .387 on-base percentage for the season. “He’ll go through spurts where he’s not hitting the ball hard or getting a lot of hits, and you look up and the numbers are kind of the same because he doesn’t pile up at-bats by putting bad pitches in play,” Maddon said. “That’s what you try to convince others of. If you have too many at-bats, it’s hard to maintain a high average because it’s hard to get many hits.” Maddon makes a great point. Considering his ugly middle months of the season, you would think Zobrist would be hitting around .250, but after Friday’s three-hit performance, his batting average climbed to .273. How crucial is he moving forward? He’ll bat cleanup in the playoffs, but as a disciplined hitter with some pop, he could be driving in key runs or taking walks to set up the guys behind him. On Friday, Maddon had Jason Heyward batting fifth and Addison Russell sixth. He wasn’t sure how he’ll line up next week in Game 1 of the postseason, but he knows Zobrist will be No. 4. “Nice hand action,” Maddon said of Zobrist's swing. “Looked frisky and ready to roll.” And just think, it was only 24 to 48 hours ago that some Cubs players were griping about resting too much or playing games as though it was spring training. Maybe Maddon deserves some R-E-S-P-E-C-T for understating what R-E-S-T can do. -- CSNChicago.com From Top To Bottom, Cubs Have All The Pieces In Place, Including New Deals For Jed Hoyer And Jason McLeod By Patrick Mooney CINCINNATI – From top to bottom, the Cubs now have all the pieces in place to make October baseball at Wrigley Field a reality, year after year, with family ownership, rock-star executives and blue-chip players. “It’s nice to keep the band together,” manager Joe Maddon said, reacting to Friday’s announcement that general manager Jed Hoyer and scouting/player-development chief Jason McLeod had finalized contract extensions, matching up their timelines with team president Theo Epstein’s new monster deal through the 2021 season. Those architects constructed what’s already a 102-win team, a division champion and the National League’s No. 1 seed, making the Cubs right now the biggest story in baseball, if not professional sports. The lineup for a 7-3 win over the rebuilding Cincinnati Reds featured two MVP candidates (Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo), a 22-year-old All-Star shortstop (Addison Russell) and marquee free agents (Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward, Dexter Fowler). The last two games of the regular season at Great American Ball Park will feature Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks making their final cases for the Cy Young Award. “It always starts with ownership and then it goes into the front office and eventually gets to us when you have that kind of stability,” said Maddon, who led a stunning turnaround with the Tampa Bay Rays despite all the uncertainty that came with small-market payrolls, a charmless domed stadium (Tropicana Field) and speculation about relocation and contraction. “We have a great product on the field,” Maddon said. “We have the best ballpark in the world. Our fans are spectacular. The city itself – there’s no more interesting place to live than Chicago. All those factors play into the success. “I know in the past the Cubs haven’t been as successful as they wanted to be. But I don’t know that all the different ingredients have been put into place this well.

“So looking ahead, you just want to build off what you’ve done. Last year was a good building block coming into this year. And we want to keep moving forward. Of course, our goal is to play the final game of the year and win it. Under these circumstances, I think it becomes more believable on an annual basis.” Since Epstein, Hoyer and McLeod reunited in the fall of 2011 – updating their World Series blueprints with the Boston Red Sox – the Cubs are just the third team in major-league history to win at least 100 games within four years of a 100-loss season. The Cubs have now qualified for postseason play in consecutive seasons for only the third time in franchise history. “We had some good pieces,” chairman Tom Ricketts said. “But the organization itself was not in a position where you could believe that there was sustainability and consistency and success on the field. Obviously, Theo and the guys that he brought with him five years ago kind of took the organization down to the studs and started rebuilding. “The time and energy to do it the right way has paid off with a team that should be successful for years to come.” -- CSNChicago.com No Guarantees, But Ben Zobrist Believes Cubs Can Live Up To ‘Super-Team’ Hype By Patrick Mooney CINCINNATI – Flooded with offers, Ben Zobrist turned down the New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals – three teams the Cubs could potentially face in the playoffs – because he believed in The Plan, closing a four-year, $56 million deal by the winter meetings for the chance to make history in Chicago. Zobrist has been exactly what the Cubs wanted, a patient switch-hitter to set an example for a young lineup, a versatile defender who can play all over the field and an insightful clubhouse presence. But that contract should really pay off in October, the way the Kansas City Royals added dimensions to last year’s World Series winner with a trade-deadline deal for Zobrist. “Talent really doesn’t mean a whole lot,” Zobrist said. “Every team that’s going to be there is talented. But that talent makes less of a difference when you’re playing against those caliber teams. It really comes down to execution. “The teams that execute – the teams that make the pitch, make the play, have the good at-bat when they need it – are the teams that win. Regular season is what it is. We’ve had a great season. We know that we’re probably the best team that’s out there regular season. But that doesn’t guarantee us anything for the postseason.” One week out from the roar at Wrigley Field and the playoffs Cubs fans have been waiting for since the Mets swept last year’s National League Championship Series, Camp Joe Maddon crossed another day off the bizarro spring-training calendar with Friday night’s 7-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. There aren’t many conclusions to be drawn from a 102-win machine rolling over a last-place team, especially when the winning pitcher (Jake Buchanan) throws five scoreless innings in his first appearance in 25 days. But Maddon has seen enough of Zobrist to know when he’s looking “very frisky and ready to roll.” Zobrist ended Josh Smith’s perfect game by leading off the fifth inning and drilling a ball into the right-field seats. Zobrist nailed another ball in the eighth inning, a two-run homer off Abel De Los Santos that landed in the same general area, the crowd chanting “Let’s go, Cubbies!” as Reds manager Bryan Price walked out toward the mound for a pitching change. “He thrives at this time of the year,” Maddon said. “It means a lot. Because when you get guys who have been there, done that – especially (someone) pretty solid regarding his daily approach – it will definitely rub off in a positive way on the other guys.”

It’s one thing to have a strong relationship with Maddon and believe the recruiting pitch from team president Theo Epstein. It’s another to see the vision come to life across 160 games, in an industry where the teams that win the offseason typically buckle under the pressure. Zobrist – who played in six postseason series with Maddon’s Tampa Bay Rays and put up an .880 OPS in 16 games during Kansas City’s World Series run – believes the Cubs have what it takes to become that special team. “For sure,” Zobrist said. “Just based on the mix of personalities and character and players that we have in this room individually. “You know that when you put them together, it’s a ‘super-team’ of sorts. We really have to prove our record right, prove people right that we can do it when it counts. And that’s going to be the most important thing going into the postseason.” Zobrist has lived up to his end of the bargain, with this 3-for-4 night boosting his numbers to 17 homers and 75 RBI and pushing his OPS to .830. He has more walks (95) than strikeouts (80), getting on base almost 39 percent of the time in the middle of what could be an all-or-nothing lineup last year. “It doesn’t matter who you are,” Zobrist said. “Everybody’s going to be hyped up and excited and a little bit anxious to play that first game in the postseason. “Just simplify it. It’s an individual thing to not allow the other stuff to get in your way of doing your job and just trying to focus. And even when you focus, sometimes the other team just executes a little bit better. There’s just a level of consistency and calmness that as a player you have to find to be able to perform at that level. “We have a lot of guys that have already done it. We got a lot of guys that already have that in their makeup. They need to feel that and experience that come postseason.” -- CSNChicago.com Joe Maddon Keeping Thoughts On Cubs’ Playoff Rotation To Himself By Patrick Mooney CINCINNATI – After Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price dropped 77 F-bombs on reporters during an epic rant that went viral last year, Joe Maddon explained his dealing-with-the-media philosophy by saying: “At the end of the day, we’re not trying to conceal weaponry being sold to Iran.” Maddon’s had a clear understanding of how the Cubs want to align their playoff rotation for about a week now, but the manager who will thoughtfully answer just about any misinformed or off-the-wall question doesn’t want to reveal those plans yet. “We have an idea of what we want to do,” Maddon said Friday at Great American Ball Park. “But we haven’t had that final conversation with Theo (Epstein) and Jed (Hoyer) and everybody else (in the front office) and all of our coaches. “What I like to do under these circumstances is talk to the players first before they have to read about it in the newspaper.” Do the pitchers already know? “They’re not stupid,” Maddon said. That type of scenario sparked Price’s meltdown last April, when it looked like one of Maddon’s former players – they worked together in 1985 and 1986 in Midland, Texas, at a Double-A affiliate for the California Angels – could get fired midseason. Price survived 98 losses, and even with the team heading toward another last-place finish this

season, the Reds announced a one-year contract extension with a club option for 2018 before Friday’s game against the Cubs. Where the manager’s hot seat used to be the dominant storyline around this team at this time of year, the Cubs have now lined up Jon Lester (19-4, 2.28 ERA) and Kyle Hendricks (16-8, 1.99 ERA) for Games 161 and 162 this weekend, giving them two leading Cy Young Award candidates for the front of their playoff rotation. Maddon indicated the opponent – whoever emerges from the three-team battle among the New York Mets, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals and wins the National League wild-card game – won’t change how the Cubs set their pitching matchups. In theory, the Cubs can also rearrange Jake Arrieta (18-8, 3.10 ERA) and John Lackey (11-8, 3.35 ERA) in a different order for Games 3 and 4, but it sounds like the brass has already made that decision, whatever it is. “You could if you wanted to, but I don’t anticipate that,” Maddon said. “Again, I want to make sure before we make that announcement.” However it shakes out, Arrieta and Lackey will have to wait almost two full weeks from their last regular-season start until their first playoff action on Oct. 10-11, on the road, in a best-of-five series where anything can happen. “That’s always been the major complaint I’ve heard,” Maddon said. “It’s just up to us to handle it properly. Now, of course, it may be difficult or rusty or whatever you want to call it. I don’t know. And then again, the rest might just do somebody really good. It just depends on the individual. These are the kind of things that are kind of outside of your control. “You do your best in order to meet the challenge. That’s it. And you don’t make excuses. You don’t cry about it. You just do it, because, in advance, you know this is how it is set up. “Otherwise, there’s nothing you can do about it, man.” The Cubs have first-division problems, avoiding the major arm injuries that decimated the Mets. The Giants would have to burn a Madison Bumgarner start in the one-game playoff. The Cardinals are in this precarious position because their rotation has been so inconsistent. “We are where we are because of our starters,” Arrieta said. “Our offense has been, obviously, spectacular, (but) we’ve all pitched really well throughout the year. I think we’re in a situation where we should be able to enjoy that for a little while. “We’ll be ready for the first round.” -- CSNChicago.com Joe Maddon's Custom Cubs Jeep Is Being Raffled Off For Charity By Staff Joe Maddon currently has a custom Cubs-themed Jeep 4x4 that has a number of baseball and Cubs themed alterations. One lucky Cubs fan will be able to win the car in a raffle to support charities. The blue Jeep features a red grille, Rawlings branded seats, a bat for a gear shifter and a Sistine Chapel-style Cubs ceiling. Fields Chrysler Jeep Dodge RAM in Glenview donated the vehicle. To enter the raffle tickets can be purchased at Binny's Chicago stores, the Edgebrook Ace Hardware, the Misericordia Home and the Cubs offices on 3721 N. Clark St. during normal business hours. Each ticket will cost $100 and a maximum of 3,000 will be sold. The winning ticket will be drawn within 30 days of the Cubs' final postseason game.

All the money goes to charity and Maddon and his wife, Jaye, will choose the charities to support. --